Sweden’s leading newspaper Dagens Nyheter has chosen Ulf Lundell’s Weekdays as one of their Best Books of 2018. Literary critic Björn Wiman calls it “indubitably the best that [Lundell] has written in many years. /.../ Spellbinding.”
Sofia Lundberg’s The Red Address Book has been chosen as a January 2019 LibraryReads title in the US. Based on the nominations of librarians all across America, the LibraryReads list highlights the most highly anticipated books coming out that month. Brenda O’Brien of Woodridge Public Library, Illinois, gives the following motivation for her choice of Lundbergs’s debut novel:
“A compelling, charming, and ultimately heartwarming read. For fans of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk and The Japanese Lover.”
Lars Kepler’s Lazarus claims the No. 1 spot on the e-book bestseller list for the seventh week in a row in Norway. Jørn Lier Horst’s The Innermost Room likewise stays put on the official list, coming in No. 3 also this week.
Jørn Lier Horst & Hans Jørgen Sandnes, Jo Nesbø and Bobbie Peers are three of the most sold authorships of children’s fiction in Norway during the past decade. Jørn Lier Horst & Hans Jørgen Sandnes succeed in the impressive feat of claiming ten out of fifty positions on the list, which includes both translated and domestic titles. All ten books are from the author and illustrator duo’s popular Detective Agency No. 2 series. In order, the titles are: Operation Thundercloud, Operation Summer Island, Operation Sunset, Operation Shadowman, Operation Windblast, Operation Plastic Bag, Operation Ghost, Operation Bronze Square, Operation Daffodil, and Operation Circus.
Jo Nesbø likewise lays claim to multiple positions, featuring four times on the list with his Doctor Proctor series. Doctor Proctor’s Fart Power, book one, comes in at No. 4. A bit further down on the list it is joined by Doctor Proctor and the Time-Travel Bath Bomb, Doctor Proctor and the End of the World. Maybe, and Doctor Proctor and the Great Gold Robbery.
Bobbie Peers too makes an appearance on the 2008-2018 list with his children’s book debut William Wenton and the Luridium Thief.
Hans Rosenfeldt’s Swedish-Danish crime TV series The Bridge has not only gained great success in Scandinavia, but become hugely popular around the globe and received several awards.
The latest in the line of tributes is one from The New York Times. The newspaper listed The Bridge as the second best foreign series of the year and describes the fourth season as “complicated,” “spine-tingling,” and “occasionally quite funny.”
The British newspaper The Observer’s critics have compiled a list of their must reads of 2018, and one of the ten titles in the Thriller category is Jo Nesbø’s Macbeth. Literary critic Alison Flood writes the following about Nesbø’s retelling of the classic:
“Macbeth by Jo Nesbø (Vintage) [...] transport[s] Shakespeare’s tragedy to a poverty-stricken, drug ridden Scottish industrial town, turning the protagonist into a Swat commander and leaving the reader delighting in discovering how the Norwegian author has transposed everything from Hecate to Lady Macbeth.”
Arne Dahl’s Hunted has been shortlisted for the Dutch Thrillzone Awards 2018 in the category ‘Best Translated Thriller’. The winners will be announced on December 24th.
To see the list of nominees and to cast your vote, click “Read more” below.
Fredrik Backman’s Britt-Marie Was Here is the winner of a LiveLib Readers’ Choice Awards in Russia, taking home the prize for ‘Best Translated Fiction’. This means that the novel has qualified for the super final, in which the winners of all categories compete for a final award. The last day of voting is December 19th.
Click “Read more” below to cast your vote.
On the official bestseller lists for November, Lars Kepler and Lazarus come in at No. 1 in the hardcover, audio and e-book categories. Hjorth & Rosenfeldt’s A Higher Justice is No. 2 in the same three categories, and Jonas Gardell’s In Memory of an Unconditional Love is No. 4 in hardcover. Niklas Natt och Dag’s The Wolf and the Watchman comes in at No. 2 in paperback, and Anders de la Motte’s Dead of Winter is No. 4 on the e-book list.
The official bestseller lists for the last week of November have been announced, and Lars Kepler’s Lazarus is back at No. 1 in hardcover and audio. Kepler also places second on the e-book list. Hjorth & Rosenfeldt’s A Higher Justice appears at No. 4 on the hardcover list, additionally claiming the fourth and fifth place on the audio and e-book lists. Last in the hardcover category’s top five is Jonas Gardell and In Memory of an Unconditional Love, at No. 5.
The paperback list sees Stina Jackson’s The Silver Road shoot to No. 2. Jackson’s debut novel comes in fourth on the e-book list. Niklas Natt och Dag’s The Wolf and the Watchman also features on the paperback list, claiming the No. 3 spot.
Finishing this week’s bestseller list roundup is Ulf Lundell’s Weekdays, No. 3 in the audio category.
Lars Kepler and Jørn Lier Horst reprise their performances on last week’s official Norwegian bestseller list for e-books, Kepler coming in at No. 1 with Lazarus and Horst at No. 3 with The Innermost Room.
Fredrik Backman’s Beartown is No. 1 on two of China’s major bestseller lists this week. Dangdang is one of the major online sales channels in China and Douban is the Chinese equivalent to Goodread’s bestseller list.
Arne Dahl has been awarded the prestigious European Crime Fiction Star Award (the Ripper Award). The award ceremony will take place on February 25, 2019 in Germany, where the winner will do a reading of their latest work. The Ripper Award honors a crime fiction author who has rendered outstanding services to crime literature within Europe. Past winners include Henning Mankell, Håkan Nesser, Fred Vargas, and Jussi Adler-Olsen.
For more information click “Read more.”
Jørn Lier Horst & Hans Jørgen Sandnes occupy two of the top five spots on the official November bestseller list for children’s books in Norway. At No. 2 is the duo’s new Christmas-themed short activity book, The Search for the Green Mitten. At No. 3 is Operation Junk Thief, the fourteenth book in Detective Agency No. 2 the series.
An official list of the most sold Norwegian fiction titles of the last decade has been announced by the Norwegian Booksellers Association. Jo Nesbø is the authorship with most titles on the list, occupying a total of eight positions - six of which are in the top ten. Police tops the list at No. 1, followed by Phantom at No. 2, and The Leopard at No. 3. Also on the list are The Son, The Thirst, Headhunters, The Snowman, and Blood on Snow.
Jørn Lier Horst likewise features at multiple positions on the list, appearing with three of his titles: The Hunting Dogs, The Caveman, and Ordeal.
Photo: Lehtikuva/Markku UlanderThe Ministry of Education and Culture has awarded director Selma Vilhunen the Finnish National Prize. Vilhunen is one of eight artists and groups to receive the award, granted in acknowledgement of a significant artistic career, achievement or promising breakthrough. The prize has been awarded since 1993 and amounts to EUR 24.700.
“With this year’s National Prize we wish to honor solid artistic know-how. These artists represent long-standing competence in, and impact on, the Finnish art field,” says Minister Sampo Terho.
Niklas Natt och Dag’s The Wolf and the Watchman has been chosen as Best Crime Novel of the Year by Adresseavisen. Adresseavisen is one of the largest daily newspapers in Norway.
Photo: Jesper BrandtDirector, producer and screenwriter Abbe Hassan is the producer behind the critically acclaimed feature film A Hustler’s Diary (2017), which became one of the most successful Swedish films of the year. He has directed several short films, the latest being Gold (2017), which won ‘Best Short Film’ at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival Kids, and the Grand Short Film Prize at the 2018 Seoul Guro International Kids Film Festival.
Hassan is currently writing the screenplay of the feature film Exodus, which he is also set to direct.
Niklas Natt och Dag and Fredrik Backman have each been shortlisted for a LiveLib Readers’ Choice Award 2018 in Russia. LiveLib is the biggest readers portal in the country, much in the vein of Goodreads. Natt och Dag’s The Wolf and the Watchman is shortlisted in the category ‘Best Crime Novel’, and Backman’s Britt-Marie Was Here in ‘Best Translated Novel of the Year’. The winning authors and titles will be announced on December 19th.
Click “Read more” below to see the full list of nominees and to cast your vote.
Today the official Swedish bestseller lists for week 46 and 47 (November 12-25th) were released. Week 46’s lists saw Lars Kepler’s Lazarus come in at No. 2 on the hardcover list and at No. 1 on both the audio and e-book lists. Hjorth & Rosenfeldt’s A Higher Justice came in at No. 3 on the hardcover and audio lists, claiming also the No. 2 spot on the e-book one. Niklas Natt och Dag’s The Wolf and the Watchman made a repeat appearance at No. 2 on the paperback list.
Week 47’s lists feature an extended cast of bestselling authors and titles: Lars Kepler, Hjorth & Rosenfeldt, and Niklas Natt och Dag stay put on the hardcover, e-book, audio and paperback lists, but are also joined by Jonas Gardell, whose In Memory of an Unconditional Love climbs the hardcover list once more to claim the No. 4 spot. Anders de la Motte’s Dead of Winter comes in just after, at No. 5. Dead of Winter also appears at No. 5 on the e-book list.
Hungary, General Press
Two-book deal closed by Miha Alvesson Due Billing
Portugal, Dom Quixote
Two-book deal closed by Miha Alvesson Due Billing
Russia, Azbooka
Ten-book deal closed by Miha Alvesson Due Billing
Hungary, Alexandra
Two-book deal closed by Miha Alvesson Due Billing
Estonia, Varrak
Two-book deal closed by Miha Alvesson Due Billing
Bulgaria, Hermes
Two-book deal closed by Miha Alvesson Due Billing
Swedish crime at its best. /…/ Three Hours is an extremely successful and read-wo...
– Litteratursiden
Suspensful crime. /…/ Definitely worth reading....
– Litteratursiden
The Swedish success author Stefan Ahnhem has once again written a crime novel of fi...
– Krimifan
A mercilessly thrilling case for Hoffmann....
– Hörzu
Stieg Larsson’s successor gives social diagnoses, mimics computer games, tells ...
– Jyllandsposten
